University of Washington Official Athletic Site - Men's Basketball
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The rebuilding of the Washington men's basketball team has been like a salmon swimming upstream. The Huskies are making steady progress, but there has been a strong current of Pacific-10 Conference opponents trying to impede their passage.
Fourth-year Coach Bob Bender's teams have improved their record in each subsequent season. His inaugural 1994 Washington team had a 5-22 record, followed by a 10-17 record in 1995, a 16-12 mark in 1996 and a 17-11 ledger last season. The Huskies advanced to the National Invitation Tournament each of the last two seasons after a nine-year postseason drought.
Last year's 17-11 record marked the school's best winning percentage since 1986.
The Huskies success is remarkable in light of the similar rise in stature of the entire Pac-10.
"I would hope that everyone who follows Husky basketball never forgets how far we have come," Bender says. "There is no doubt that our improvement has come at a time when it wasn't real easy. This league has been so good with two out of the last three NCAA champions and last year's unprecedented success.
"I still know that we are going to have to take steps to be a champion in the Pac-10. Along the way, it isn't easy because of how good this league is."
One of the first steps for Bender entering the 1997-98 campaign is to find replacements for departed standouts Mark Sanford and Jamie Booker. Those two represented 40 percent of the team's points last season and 37 percent of the individual rebounds, combining for 30.3 points and 12.9 rebounds per game.
A two-time All-Pac-10 performer, Sanford led Washington in both scoring and rebounding during the last two seasons. He averaged 17.0 points and 8.0 rebounds during his junior campaign before submitting his name for early entry to the NBA Draft.
Booker graduated this spring as the Huskies' all-time leader in steals with 195. He led the team with 107 assists in 1997 while ranking third with 13.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Booker was an honorable mention All-Pac-10 selection.
"The thing that certainly is going to be a challenge is to take another step and to be able to get into the NCAA Tournament with two major personnel changes," Bender admits. "What helps is when you have enough experience coming back that even in spite of losing two starters of their prominence you can replace people when you have other people who are experienced."
FRONTLINE Todd MacCulloch Jr. C 7-0 14.2 ppg 7.3 rpg Patrick Femerling Jr. C/F 7-1 5.6 ppg 4.5 rpg Chris Walcott So. F 6-7 2.1 ppg 1.7 rpg Thalo Green Fr. F 6-6 red-shirt in 1997
The Huskies return seven lettermen, including a trio of starters. Heading the list of returnees is 7-foot junior center Todd MacCulloch who led the nation in field goal shooting last season. His 67.6-percent shooting clip improved his own single-season school record of 67.5-percent established during his freshman campaign.
A 1998 Playboy All-America selection, MacCulloch seeks to improve on the 14.2-point and 7.3-rebound averages that ranked second on the team in 1997. He twice reached the 30-point plateau last season, capped by a 38-point outburst at James Madison that was the eighth-highest in Husky history.
"Todd now is better prepared and equipped to deal with more attention defensively because he has experienced that. It was a top priority of getting him started early in games and establishing that inside game. That will certainly remain."
The 7-foot, 280-pound center worked as a volunteer at the 1995 Final Four in Seattle's Kingdome where he was often mistaken for Bryant "Big Country" Reeves, whose Oklahoma State squad was participating. The on-court comparisons to Reeves have begun.
"The last step in Todd's development that needs to take place is consistency. He has certainly proven that in given situations he is capable of putting up huge numbers both offensively scoring the ball and rebounding it on both ends of the floor. Development has to occur in doing that night in and night out."
MacCulloch anchors a Washington frontline that also features 7-foot-1 junior Patrick Femerling. The imposing 7-foot duo played together on numerous occasions last season.
"I can pretty well say we will go with those two to start the season. The interesting scenario that surrounds starting the two together is not so much them together because we did go to that a lot in the second half of the season. They are comfortable with that and our team is comfortable with that look. How do we then surround them depth-wise?"
Femerling possesses an uncharacteristic mobility for his size, enabling him to defend smaller players and line up at either center or forward. He averaged 5.6 points and 4.5 rebounds last season while leading the team with 36 blocked shots.
"What people will see is a guy that is more aggressive and quicker to shoot the jump shot facing the basket. Really as far as any of the big guys we've had here, Patrick runs the floor as well as anybody. And he can definitely defend out on the floor."
Aside from the two 7-footers, no other player on the roster is taller than 6-7. The Huskies should continue to utilize a three-guard alignment, meaning the shortage of height only impacts the ability to back up the two starters. At times last season, 6-7 sophomore Chris Walcott was called upon to man the center position when foul trouble plagued MacCulloch and Femerling.
"The real challenge is Chris Walcott, the flexibility he can give us in subbing in for one of those two at times and then Thalo Green. Those two guys off the bench initially are going to be a real key as to how successful we will be early. I would expect by the Pac-10 season, the two of them will have found their role and they will prosper in it."
Walcott is a nifty left-hander who played under 10 minutes per game last season. He filled in at both forward positions and even played center on occasions when MacCulloch and Femerling were troubled by fouls. Walcott can score inside and step out to 3-point range.
Thalo Green was the Oregon prep Player of the Year in 1996, but was hampered by injuries at the beginning of his collegiate career and opted to red-shirt last season.
"The red-shirt season has definitely helped him. He's healthy now. Obviously he's more knowledgeable about what it takes to play at this level. Even though he might be a little smaller than people he will be matched up against, he's so natural inside that he can compete at the Pac-10 level. He's a very intelligent player and a good passer."
BACKCOURT Donald Watts Jr. G 6-4 8.9 ppg 3.4 rpg Jan Wooten Sr. G 5-10 5.8 ppg 1.8 rpg Deon Luton So. G 6-4 5.7 ppg 1.8 rpg Chris Thompson Sr. G 6-1 3.3 ppg 1.2 rpg Andrew Moritz So. G 6-1 0.0 ppg 0.4 rpg
The Huskies were the nation's seventh-most improved shooting team last season, upping their field goal percentage 4.72 points from 43.6 percent to 48.3 percent. The 48.3-percent accuracy was Washington's finest figure since 1989.
Nowhere was that more evident than in the backcourt. Every guard improved his previous season's shooting both from the field and 3-point territory. The backcourt combined to improve by 10 percent from the field.
"It's just experience. These kids are good shooters, it's just different shooting at the college level," Bender explains. "The defense it so much better. I would expect us to shoot the ball better next year because of experience returning. It certainly helps when your first option is someone like Todd who shoots a high percentage individually, it helps your whole team."
Heading the list of improved marksmen was junior Donald Watts whose field goal percentage improved dramatically from 22 percent to 36 percent while his 3-point accuracy nearly doubled to 31 percent.
Watts will be relied upon to lead the backcourt with the departure of Booker. He started 26 games, averaging 8.9 points to rank fourth on the team. His 71 assists were the third-best total on the squad.
The 1995 Washington prep Player of the Year, Watts appears poised for a breakthrough season after battling with lofty expectations as the son of former professional great Slick Watts who led the NBA in both assists and steals in 1976.
Watts displayed his well-rounded prowess in the Huskies' upset of national champion Arizona, scoring 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and 2-for-3 from 3-point range. He also delivered six assists while adding two steals in a tenacious defensive effort.
"It's all consistency. Donald's performance against Arizona was exactly what he is capable of doing and now it has to be done day in and day out, each and every game," says Bender. "It's his time to step up."
The Washington guard corps boasts experience and depth that is unusual during Bender's tenure.
Two point guards return, seniors Chris Thompson and Jan Wooten. Thompson started the first 15 games at the point and backed up Wooten the final 13 outings. Thompson ranked second on the squad with 95 assists while Wooten was the fifth leading scorer with a 5.8-point average.
A native of Elizabeth, N.J., Wooten played two years at Belleville (Ill.) Junior College before transferring to Washington. He toured South America with the USA Basketball junior college all-star team in 1995.
"Jan was mostly a scorer in high school and wasn't a true point guard in junior college. It took a year for him to figure out exactly what we look for and what is expected of a point guard. When he is able to free himself of running the team he becomes a pretty lethal threat to score and to shoot it from three and also off the dribble. We will use Jan in different ways but we do need him to think of himself as a point guard."
Thompson came to Washington after one season at Bellevue (Wash.) Community College. He was voted the team's most improved player last year, his second season with the Huskies.
"Last year, where the improvement came was in his confidence. Knowing what he had to do to be successful, then going out and actually doing that. I would expect and hope we see another step and improvement."
Sophomore shooting guard Deon Luton burst onto the scene with 22 points against Brigham Young, a Washington record for a freshman in his collegiate debut. He ranked second on the team in 3-point shooting at 39 percent and had three or more treys on five occasions.
"He's come so far from a guy who was a center in high school. Now he has become probably our main 3-point threat and athletically can get out and do spectacular things in the open court. He made drastic steps of improvement last year in his ability to handle the ball. What happens is as he becomes more confident putting the ball on the floor, then that 3-point threat sets up a lot of other things that he should be able to do."
Bender is hoping Luton volunteers for the defensive stopper role that Booker served the past four years.
"Deon could be a big-time defender. He's got all the physical characteristics to do it and with Jamie's departure, somebody is going to have to emerge to be able to do that. You have to have someone who accepts and really relishes that role of being a stopper and wants those kind of assignments. I fully expect that Deon is capable of doing that."
Also returning to add depth to the backcourt is sophomore Andrew Moritz who earned a roster spot last year during the annual walk-on tryouts in October. He played at Seattle's Franklin High School alongside current Arizona standout Jason Terry.
"For people that join your program as walk-ons you look for certain characteristics. One is, what kind of high school program they come out of, because they are going to know what it takes to be successful and that relates to how they practice and how they make other people better in practice. With Andrew coming from Franklin High School, and the success he had in high school, obviously he's the kind of kid you want involved with your program."
The wealth of experienced guards, plus the addition of two standout freshmen should help heal the Huskies' turnover woes. Washington topped the Pac-10 with nearly 21 turnovers per game, the most in school history.
"Experience makes you a better ball-handling team. We have great competition in the backcourt, we have great depth now. We can keep people fresh. Many times turnovers occur when people get tired and worn out mentally and physically."
NEWCOMERS Greg Clark So. F 6-6 La Mesa, Calif. Dan Dickau Fr. G 6-0 Vancouver, Wash. Michael Johnson Fr. G 6-4 Seattle, Wash.
"We have two very good young kids coming into the program who are going to make immediate impacts," Bender remarks about incoming freshmen Michael Johnson and Dan Dickau. Those two highly sought players, the best from the state of Washington, will greatly bolster the Husky backcourt.
Johnson is the all-time leading scorer for prepsters from large schools in the state of Washington, amassing 2,271 points during his career. He averaged 27.1 points, 10.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists during his senior season. The 1997 USA Today state Player of the Year, Johnson was rated the 14th best player on the Long Beach Press-Telegram's annual Best in the West poll of coaches and was rated 11th nationally on the Basketball Times list of shooting guard prospects.
"I don't think a lot of people understand just how good Michael is at making an entire team better. We've seen him play with all-star groups and it's incredible that he can score when it's needed inside and outside and he can handle it against great athleticism. All through that, he gets people the basketball so easily. Your greatest compliment as a player is not just a coach saying you make people better, but it's when teammates say they love playing with a guy like that. Everybody that's ever played with Michael makes that comment."
Dickau was somewhat of an unknown until an impressive performance at Nike Camp during the summer of 1996. He led Prairie High School into the state semifinals, averaging 20 points and seven assists per game. The 1997 state Class AAA Player of the Year, Dickau was ranked the 15th-best point guard prospect in the country by Basketball Times and No. 20 overall in the Best in the West poll.
"Dan is a very good shooter and yet he has a point guard mentality, not just skills. It's ironic today in basketball people talk about players having point guard skills. That's nice, but the real thing you are looking for is a point guard mentality an understanding of what that role is. Dan has all of that. A good indication of how good he is and how he excels is when you put him against the best. Nobody knew who he was last year, but after about three days at the Nike camp at the national level all of a sudden people were talking about who is Dan Dickau and saying this kid is really good."
A third newcomer is Long Beach State transfer Greg Clark who will sit out this season and have three years of eligibility remaining. Clark, the brother of Detroit Tigers' standout first baseman Tony Clark, starred at Grossmont High School in the San Diego area of California. He was a Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West top-five selection in 1996.
"We wish we could find some way he could play this year. He can go to the basket and finish with anyone in this league. The thing that really is going to surprise people is his ability to shoot the ball that well from the perimeter. Greg Clark is a guy who is really going to give us some ingredients in the future that are going to help us get closer to realizing a championship level of play."
Bender is accustomed to a championship level of play, having participated in 11 NCAA Tournaments, including four as a player while at Indiana and Duke. He was an assistant coach at Duke during six tourneys and he directed Illinois State to the 1990 NCAAs in his first year as a head coach.
He has participated in the NCAA Tournament at every college he's been associated with -- except Washington. Bender would like nothing more than for his Huskies to experience the thrill of the "Big Dance."
"The goal will be to get to the NCAA Tournament. To assure ourselves of that we've got to finish higher in conference and have to get more wins than 17. By setting that simple goal we will challenge ourselves to make another step."
Speaking about the NCAA Tournament is a bold topic for a team that is the only Pacific-10 Conference member that has not garnered an NCAA berth during the 1990s. Washington seeks to take another step up the ladder that will hopefully spawn its first NCAA berth since 1986.
The rebuilding of the Washington men's basketball team has been like a salmon swimming upstream. The Huskies are making steady progress, but there has been a strong current of Pacific-10 Conference opponents trying to impede their passage.
Fourth-year Coach Bob Bender's teams have improved their record in each subsequent season. His inaugural 1994 Washington team had a 5-22 record, followed by a 10-17 record in 1995, a 16-12 mark in 1996 and a 17-11 ledger last season. The Huskies advanced to the National Invitation Tournament each of the last two seasons after a nine-year postseason drought.
Last year's 17-11 record marked the school's best winning percentage since 1986.
The Huskies success is remarkable in light of the similar rise in stature of the entire Pac-10.
"I would hope that everyone who follows Husky basketball never forgets how far we have come," Bender says. "There is no doubt that our improvement has come at a time when it wasn't real easy. This league has been so good with two out of the last three NCAA champions and last year's unprecedented success.
"I still know that we are going to have to take steps to be a champion in the Pac-10. Along the way, it isn't easy because of how good this league is."
One of the first steps for Bender entering the 1997-98 campaign is to find replacements for departed standouts Mark Sanford and Jamie Booker. Those two represented 40 percent of the team's points last season and 37 percent of the individual rebounds, combining for 30.3 points and 12.9 rebounds per game.
A two-time All-Pac-10 performer, Sanford led Washington in both scoring and rebounding during the last two seasons. He averaged 17.0 points and 8.0 rebounds during his junior campaign before submitting his name for early entry to the NBA Draft.
Booker graduated this spring as the Huskies' all-time leader in steals with 195. He led the team with 107 assists in 1997 while ranking third with 13.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Booker was an honorable mention All-Pac-10 selection.
"The thing that certainly is going to be a challenge is to take another step and to be able to get into the NCAA Tournament with two major personnel changes," Bender admits. "What helps is when you have enough experience coming back that even in spite of losing two starters of their prominence you can replace people when you have other people who are experienced."
